Method of providing cables or other flexible bodies with solid ends.



No. 754,997. PATENTED MAR. 22, 1904.

G. G. M. HARDINGHAM. METHOD OF PROVIDING GABLES OR OTHER FLEXIBLE BODIES WITH SOLID ENDS.

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No. 754,997. PATENTED MAR. 22, 1904. G. G. M. HARDINGHAM. METHOD OF PROVIDING GAB O THER FLEXIBLE BODIES WITH S D S.

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UNITED STATES Patented March 22, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE G. M. HARDINGHAM, OF LONDON, EN GLAND ASSIGNOR TO FELTEN & GUILLEAUME OARLSWERK AOTIEN-GESELLSOHAFT, OF MULHEIM- ON-THE-RHINE, GERMANY.

METHOD OF PROVIDING CABLES OR OTHER FLEXIBLE BODIES WITH SOLID ENDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 754,997, dated March 22, 1904:.

Application filed March 21, 1903. Serial No. 148,912. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE GA'rroN MEL- HUISH HARDINGHAM, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Olun House, Surrey street, London, England, have invented an Improved Method of Providing Cables or other Flexible Bodies with Solid Ends, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to attaching solid ends to cables and other flexible bodies for electrical and other purposes--as, for example, in the manufacture of rail-bonds for electrically connecting together the extemities of adjacent rails employed in electric railways.

For the purpose of illustrating the manner in which the invention may be carried into effect I will assume it to be applied in the production of a rail-bond adapted for use on electric railways, although it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable in the provision of solid ends to flexible conductors for dynamos, for cable ends, and for analogous uses.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 illustrates one form of my invention in which a number of loosely laid up wire strands are employed to form the body portion, Fig. 2 being a corresponding sectional view of the head or terminal. Figs. 3 and A are views in elevation and section, respectively, showing another form of my invention wherein the flexible body of the bond is composed of copper strips, Fig. 5 being a modification wherein a double body is formed by arranging the copper strip in continuous fashion. Fig. 6 illustrates a duplication of the method of construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the two body portions being twisted together; and Figs. 7 and 8 are views in elevation and section, respectively, of the terminals employed in this case. Figs. 9, 10, and 11 show in like manner a duplication of the construction shown in Figs. 3 and A, Fig. 11 also showing in section the head or terminal before the ends of the copper strip have been secured therein by the expansion of the central hole by punching. Fig. 12 illustrates a mode of securing the head or terminal in the web of the rail.

Arail-bond constructed according to my improved method consists, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, of a body portion A, composed of a length of copper cable and two copper terminals B B, which may be of castmetal, but are preferably formed by stamping up a blank cut from a rolled bar. Each terminal B is formed with a boss or lateral projection 5, adapted for insertion in a hole drilled. in the web of the rail, the terminal being firmly secured in the railweb by driving a taper pin into a hole formed in the boss, or the boss may assume the form of asleeve of suflicient length for its end to protrude through the hole in the rail, such end being then opened out and riveted over, as shown in Fig. 12. .The terminal Bis also provided with a socket for the reception of the extremity of the flexible cable constituting the body portion A, the latter being disposed tangentially in relation to the center of the boss I) traversed by the driftpin. For the purpose of securing the extremity of the cable or body portion in its socket the former is inserted in the latter and the terminal B is placed in a suitable die or forming-tool. The hole Z) for the drift-pin is then punched in the solid substance of the terminal, with the twofold effect that a portion of the metal displaced is forced laterally against and among the wires pertaining to the cable and the one partis firmly secured to the other. Inasmuch, moreover, as the path of the punch does not traverse that of the wires, the latter are not exposed to injury by shearing.

According to an alternative method of construction the same process is employed for welding the terminals to the body portion; but the latter instead of being composed of cable may, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, be of a laminated character and consist of a number of thin strips c of copper laid face to face. or a continuous strip of copper may be laid up as a coil, being threaded several times through passages formed in the respective terminals, the body portion assuming under these circumstances the form of a loop, as shown in Fig. 5.

hen it is desired that the bond or other conductor should be very close to the Web of the rail or other surface to which the device is applied, the body portion A is preferably formed of flat cable and the strands separated at their extremities into two branches, (see Fig. 6,) or the body portion A may'consist of wires or flat strips divided into two groups throughout their entire length, as shown in Fig. 9, and arranged either parallel or crossing one another. The extremities of the branches or of the groups, as the case may be, are respectively inserted in two holes, one on either side of the central hole 6', which is punched in the solid substance of the terminal for the reception of the drift-pin or throughbolt. The action of the punch displaces the metal of the terminal laterally and secures the two branches of the cable or the sections in the case where the body portion is of a bipart character in their respective sockets. The holes for the cable ends may be arranged in such proximity that by two or three punching operations the two branches of the cable or other body portion are gradually spread apart and ultimately assume a curved form, although the holes or sockets for their reception may originally have been straight.

Although a punch or equivalent device is employed for spreading the metal of the terminal in a radial direction, and thus securing this part to the body portion, it is not essential that the hole left by the punch should be occupied by a drift-pin in attaching the bond to the rail. As already pointed out, the portion of the terminal which occupies the hole in the rail may be formed as a sleeve, the outer extremity of which may with the aid of a suitable tool be opened out upon the opposite side of the rail-web and riveted over, as illustrated in Fig. 12.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The herein-described method of providing flexible bodies with solid terminals and simultaneously forming a drift-pin opening therein, which consists in inserting the flexible body in a lateral socket in aterminal, placing the latter in a forming-tool and by forcing a punch transversely into the solid substance of the terminal displacing laterally the metal thereof and forcing the same against and into intimatecontact with the flexible body and thereby forming an integral connection between the terminal and flexible body, substantially as set forth.

2. The herein-described method of providing flexible bodies having divided ends with solid terminals and simultaneously forming a drift-pin opening therein, which consists in inserting the divided ends in lateral sockets in a terminal, placing the latter in a formingtool and by forcing a punch transversely into the solid substance of the terminal displacing laterally the metal thereof. and forcing the same against and into intimate contact with the ends of flexible body and thereby forming an integral connection between the flexible body and terminal, substantially as set forth.

3. A rail-bond for electric railways, consisting of a terminal, a lateral socket and a driftpin opening in said terminal, a flexible body secured in said socket, the securing means consisting of material laterally displaced from the walls adjacent the drift-pin opening, substantially as set forth.

4:. A rail-bond for electric railways, consisting of a terminal, lateral sockets and a drift-pin opening therebetween in said terminal, a flexible body having divided ends secured in said sockets, the securing means consisting of material laterally displaced from the walls adjacent the said drift-pin opening substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

G. G. M. HARDINGHAM.

\Vitnesses:

NORMAN S. B. J ONES, W. F. CAIN. 

